A total of 2,000 exhibitors attended the 38th China International Furniture Fair (CIFF) Shanghai, which officially closed recently at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) in Shanghai, China.

The four-day fair received a total of 84,696 professional attendees from 30 countries and districts such as China, Italy, US, Germany, Russia, Belgium, India, Japan, Southeast Asia, Korea and Turkey, seeing stable increase with year-on-year growth reaching 12.75 per cent, said a statement.

Focusing on "Ingenuity and Quality, Innovation and Sharing", the fair showcased not only home furniture, office furniture, home decor and home textiles, outdoor and leisure as well as machinery and raw materials but also masterpieces from the Pinnacle Awards, known as the American furniture Oscars, it said.

To offer a better purchasing experience, the CIFF (Shanghai) introduced data sharing service to professional audiences, offering purchasing information based on buyers' needs, recommending best-matched exhibitors and optimising visiting tours accordingly. Buyers who are willing to know more about customised furniture and internet smart household products could customise a "smart" visiting tour in this service, it added.

The 38th CIFF (Shanghai) hosted 48 events such as design display, fashion show and summit forum including the national government procurement furniture summit where guests all around the world shared purchasing scope of Chinese government, purchasing characteristics of major areas, purchasing features of segment market, said a statement.

A highlight of the fair, the Pinnacle Awards launched its first tour in China with the debut exhibition at the 38th CIFF to share products that have been mass produced and well received by customers in US market. World famous artists including Spanish artist Cristobal Gabarron also showed their design on their solo exhibition at the fair.

Xu Bing, vice president of CIFF host China Foreign Trade Centre signed letter of intent with Tom Conley, president and chief executive officer of US High Point Market and John Conrad, executive director of The American Society of Furniture Designers. This strategic partnership marks another step for the fair to further facilitate global communication and promote innovation and development of global furniture industry, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service